In a video and audio recording apparatus, video and audio are digitized, encoded according to a standard such as MPEG, and recorded on a recording medium as digital data. The video and audio playback apparatus decodes the digital data recorded on the recording medium and the plays back the video and the audio.
An art which plays back video and audio at a speed higher than a usual speed is known in JP,P2004-140723A, for example. Skip playback giving continuity in some degree becomes possible by playing back predetermined number of frames normally in series after playing back a picture of one frame for every several frames. However, an art which plays back the video and the audio in accordance with their characteristics is not shown in JP,2004-140723A.